


Reciprocity

by Xangonne



Category: Call of Cthulhu: Path of Perdition (Web Series), Internet Remix, Rolling with Remix: Masks of Nyarlathotep (Web Series)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:00:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26911798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xangonne/pseuds/Xangonne
Summary: “Nothing is free. Everything has to be paid for. For every profit in one thing, payment in some other thing. For every life, a death.”― Ted Hughes, The Tiger's BonesorThe ways in which one refuses to take.
Relationships: Mason Allen & Kit Sullivan, Mason Allen/Kit Sullivan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Reciprocity

* * *

“Hey Doc, can I ask you a question?”

The two of them were taking a break. Since they had arrived in New York, and both Sybil and James left, Kit had been making good on his promise to help Mason move out of Aphrodite's. Where they were now was the fruit of all that labour. The day before, Mason had signed a lease, and gotten the key to a comfortable apartment in Manhattan. The two of them had been in the process of moving Mason's belongings and mismatched furniture up several flights of stairs all afternoon. 

“Sure.”

"What's your angle? What do you want from me, for all this?"

Mason perched on the back of his couch and regarded Kit with an appraising look. The morning had started off with the both of them in an easy sort of conversation, but as the hours wore on, Mason had gotten quieter and quieter. Mason hadn’t tried to hide the fact that he had fallen deep into thought and was carefully studying Kit’s every move, as if trying to read lines of intent in every small movement Kit made. Kit set down the box he was carrying with a thud.

"What?" Kit looked genuinely perplexed at the question. "Mason, there's no angle."

Mason went for a different approach instead. "Well, then what's all this for?" He made a sweeping gesture to indicate everything. "I know you've got a home and a family in Boston. So why'd you end up sticking around here, huh?"

Truth be told, Kit wasn't sure he had an answer beyond just not wanting to go home. Not wanting to go back to Boston. Not wanting to wake up.

Mason continued. "All of this. Teaching me how to drive. Getting a bank account set up for me. Helping me move out away from Aphrodite. I don't get it."

Kit shrugged. "There's not really anything to get, Mason. I told you I would help you, so here I am. Helping you."

Mason stood up from where he had been half-sitting and half-leaning on the couch, and approached Kit. Kit retreated by a half-step, but Mason did not back off. Instead, Mason pressed forward, until Kit found one of his heels touching the wall. "What exactly did you want in return?" Mason murmured, suddenly close-- too close, and smiled in a way that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Kit started, as if the words had slapped him.

"N-no. Mason. It's nothing like that at all."

"Listen. I'm not some dumb kid, Doc. I know how the world works--"

"--I promise, it's not like that--"

"--Dr. Sullivan I _know_ how the world works. And nothin' in this world is free."

Kit bit off the rest of his sentence instead of finishing it, and found that he couldn't meet the intensity of Mason's gaze. The last sentence hung in the air between the two, and Kit had to look away.

"Mason, I'm sorry." He took a deep breath. "I never expected anything in return. I'm doing this because I wanted to help. I wanted to help you: Mason Allen, my friend."

The fierce look in Mason's eyes was replaced by something else entirely, something softer. He took a few steps back from where he had practically pinned Kit against the wall.

"You just gotta understand, Doc. Guys like me--" Mason rolled his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair, trying to find the words to explain something that he never quite managed to articulate to himself. "--guys like me don't get to have stuff like this."

"Stuff like this?"

"Y'know." Mason gestured vaguely in the air. "Altruism? Good things for no reason, I guess?"

The corner of Kit's mouth quirked up. "Well. It seems the Mason Allen I know is a little different from the Mason Allen you're familiar with."

Mason laughed, despite himself. "Oh yeah? Well who exactly is this Mason Allen that you know, then?"

"Well, where should I start?" Kit took the opportunity the change in atmosphere provided to sit down on the couch. He leaned back and looked Mason up and down.

Mason crossed his arms, more amused now than anything else.

"The Mason Allen I happen to be acquainted with is a bit of a bleeding heart, for one."

"Oh yeah?" Mason took a seat on the other end of the couch and leaned against the arm-rest, facing Kit. "And how do ya figure that, Doc?"

Kit tilted his head towards Mason. "For one, you decided to help Mr. Hase, even after he shot at you."

Mason still thought about Peter Hase, from time to time. As the weeks passed, he found that the initial adrenaline and fear of having to pull a gun on him had faded and crystallized into a different feeling altogether. Sorrow? Pity? The noise of the gunshot he only avoided through sheer luck still echoed like thunder in his mind: reminding him that he would die, they would all die, that they were all teetering on the edge of a knife and all it would take would be one misstep. One errant gust of wind. One unlucky shot.

Even so, Peter’s haunted eyes were what stuck in Mason’s memory. His eyes, and the way Peter’s voice had cracked when he spoke about that Worm in his head. His voice, and the way he, and Sybil, and Kit had to calm Mr. Hase down like he was more a wounded animal than a person. His fear, and the way Peter had all of a sudden collapsed in on himself and became small, so small and frightened. So small and fragile compared to the man he had been.

"Well I mean, what was I supposed to do? You saw him, Kit. He wasn't in his right mind." 

"No." Kit’s eyes hardened. “He wasn’t.” 

There was a moment of stillness between the two of them. For that moment, it almost felt as though the presence of the Mask was there with them, attempting to eat away at the edges of the apartment and set them both adrift. Then, just like that, the moment was gone. The two of them were sitting in a half-empty apartment, the evening sun slanting through the window and warming the air-- chasing away the chill of memory.

Mason huffed. "Well that's not exactly a fair shake."

Kit paused to think. "How long have we known each other?"

"Coupla months at this point, why?"

Kit gave Mason a pointed look.

"What, does it really matter all that much? Especially considering what we’ve been through? What we’ve all been through together?”

“Most people still wouldn’t be so quick to care. Not in the way you care about Sybil, and Jackson, and Sunil, and James.”

“And you.”

Kit waved a hand as if to dismiss Mason’s last thought.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Doc. If I’m a bleeding heart, then you’ve got one just as bad as I do.” Mason lounged back against the arm of the couch casually, giving Kit a bit of a sly look.

Kit rolled his eyes, but couldn’t prevent himself from smiling slightly. “It’s my job, Mason. It’s what I do.”

“Uh huh.” Mason raised an eyebrow. “Don’t think that just because you started this, I haven’t noticed that the shoe fits you too, Dr. Sullivan.”

“It’s a little different.”

“Don’t look that way to me, Kit.”

"I'm just saying--" Kit changed the subject, and shifted so that he was sitting sideways on the couch, facing Mason as well. "For someone who insists nothing in this world is free, you sure end up giving a lot of yourself away. Your time. Your kindness--" Kit shrugged. "You're a good man, Mason. I don't think anyone can take that away from you."

Mason fell silent, and Kit took that as his cue to continue.

"You deserve things, Mason. Good things. You deserve all the kindness and care that you give in turn."

"You mean that." It was a statement. Mason studied Kit's face closely. "You really mean it, huh?"

Kit turned away slightly, shielding the right side of his face from view. He suddenly felt very exposed. "I don't make it a habit to say things I don't mean." Kit's voice was quiet, and earnest.

Mason nodded slowly, and shifted closer to Kit.

Kit blinked, and leaned forward. "Mason?"

Mason smiled. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this because I feel like I owe you."

Kit opened his mouth to ask a question, but never got the chance to. Instead, Mason leaned forward and kissed him. For a split second, Kit froze, and this was enough for Mason to pull away slightly.

"I want to do this," Mason said softly.

Kit took a shuddering breath. He had never noticed how long Mason's eyelashes were before. He had never been this close. Not like this. He had never… The thought trailed off, and instead of following it, Kit hesitantly kissed Mason back.

"I think I want this too."

* * *


End file.
